Afford Anything | Make Smart Choices About Your Money, Time And Productivity

#121: After Liz Thames graduated from college, she couldn't find a job. "Nowhere would hire me," Thames says. "I had what I thought was this nice resume, and I sent out over 50 applications. Nowhere called me back." She took a temporary job at a document-scanning agency, then joined Americorps to serve as a full-time volunteer in a low-income neighborhood in Brooklyn. She lived on a stipend of $10,000 annually, plus food stamps and a transit pass. She saved $2,000 from her $10,000 stipend, while paying rent in New York. To say that Thames is a natural saver is an understatement. Her frugality stayed intact throughout her twenties. She got married, earned a free masters degree and advanced into higher-paying roles. But she and her husband, who was equally frugal, continued saving as much as possible -- at times pushing their savings rate to as high as 70 percent of their income. When they were 30, they decided to shoot for financial independence. They shared a dream of moving to a rural farm, where they